census look up please

[KarenM]

1836?  Not sure if anyone was living in BC then 

[J.J.]

Here is the vital stats site for B.C....find the death that you think is his...
http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-1367597/gbsearch/Deaths
I'll look at the censuses later...teen off school and wants computer back...
...again...
J.J.

[J.J.]

I thought this rang a bell? The children of William Kerr & Mary Jane Currie...
from the IGI extracted files are usually semi reliable.... Are these not the correct dates?

Fanny KERR - b. May 23, 1856 Middle Or New Parish, Greenock, Renfrew, Sct.
Elenora KERR -  b. May 21 1857                     "   "   "   "
William John KERR -   b. Feb. 16 1865       "  "  "   "
James KERR - b.  Jan. 05 1867                     "  "  "  "
 

[LemonMallie]

I had a quick look at the BC Death Registrations.  James Alexander Kerr, died 1936, was born in New Brunswick so we can strike him off the list of possibilities.

But there is another reg for James Kerr, died in Fernie in 1943.  Unfortunately, the details on the registration are minimal.  The informant was a female friend which perhaps explains the lack of information.  Birthplace is England, date of birth 16 Jan 1871, married but wife's name not known, parent's names not known.  He was a labourer.  Lived in the municipality/province/Canada for 35 years.

I also found a death reg for a William John Kerr, died in Nakusp in 1953.  Born in Glasgow on 16 Feb 1866, in municipality/province 37yrs and in Canada 44yrs.  Wife's name was Sarah Davies and they had a daughter, Florence who acted as the informant.  Parents names William Kerr, born Ireland, and Jean Crewe (??) born Scotland.  Looks like Sarah Kerr died in Nakusp in 1960 but I don't see a marriage for them in BC.

Not sure if these are yours or not.....

Lynwen

[Elizabeth Revel]

I have looked through the BC Vital Event indexes and found a death for James Kerr as you said, in Fernie, however, it was 29 Sept 1943. Deaths are released up to 1986 and there were no further Kerr deaths reported in Fernie. Fernie is in the Crow's Nest Pass and is an area where coal mining was the mainstay of the economy.

Name:     James Kerr

   Event Date:     1943 9 29 (Yr/Mo/Day)
   Age:            72
   Gender:         male
   Event Place:    Fernie
                                   
   Reg. Number:    1943-09-631484
   B.C. Archives Microfilm Number:  B13180
   GSU Microfilm Number: 1953640

I have found a William John Kerr who died in Nakusp.

Name:     William John Kerr

   Event Date:     1953 12 28 (Yr/Mo/Day)
   Age:            86
   Gender:         male
   Event Place:    Nakusp
                                   
   Reg. Number:    1953-09-012740
   B.C. Archives Microfilm Number:  B13218
   GSU Microfilm Number: 2032872

You will note that the age is not quite right but very close.

Buried in the Cemetery in Nakusp are three other people named Kerr. Sarah, died 1960, age 87, John, died 1929, aged 42, and Maggie for whom I am unable to find an age or date of death.

Nakusp is on the Arrow Lakes and is almost as remote as Fernie.

James Kerr is on the 1911 Census, reports being married but is one of 17 lodgers in a boarding house at Michel, near Fernie.

This site will show a little of the life in this region, though sadly the link to Fernie has been lost.

/members.tripod.com/~coalminersmemorial/

The only possible candidate for William I have found so far is another probable miner in Coleman, also in the Fernie region. The right age, reports being married, and also living as a lodger.

I can see no trace of Barbara.

Beth

[frenchdressing]

Thank you all so much for looking.

I think that Barabara as the wife of William John can be struck off as I'm now sure that the Kerr couple on the ship in 1894 were not my family. He must have sailed between 1892 and 1900 so I'll check the passenger lists again.

JJ that's the right family but the James born in 1867 died in infancy and the next James was born in 1871 in Cheshire, England.

As I said previously, I have a couple of old photos showing James in front of a log cabin holding deer antlers and scraps of a letter explaining how they built the cabins. The last photo was taken in 1831. I phoned his grandaughter in England last night and she said that he'd died in 1835, not 1836  but she's old now and her memory isn't so reliable. She also said that she'd always thought that William John had gone to Alberta, which is in the right direction.

I have a birth cert. for William John. He was born 16/02/1865 in Greenock, Scotland and James was born in March 1871. His English wife, who left him, was Margaret Ann Alldred.

How come that the BC site I look at states that deaths are from 1872 and you've found deaths before that? What am I doing wrong???

Thanks again for again for all your efforts.

French

[LemonMallie]

I think we are confused by the mixup in centuries.  We are talking about individuals who were born in 1865 and 1871 and at least one who died in 1935, not 1836 as noted.  The death registrations in BC began in 1872 and continue to the present day but the privacy act limits access to those more than twenty years old.  So we should be able to find them if they died in BC within those dates.

Looking again at the record for William John, died in Nakusp.  Could he not be your man?  The birth date is exact except out by one year.  The birth place of Glasgow is fairly all encompassing for that area of Scotland.  And remember, the registrant relied on family members to provide the necessary information and they didn't always get it right.

But your William John's parents match up fairly closely with the WJ who died in Nakusp as does his birth date.  The mother's name was difficult to read on the death reg but it very well could have been Jane Currie.  It sounds like the only corroborating evidence as to the dates is someone's possibly faulty memory so I think we still have to include William of Nakusp as a possibility.  I couldn't find any sign of Sarah Davies Kerr in the census to try and place them prior to their arrival in Nakusp.  I'll go back to the library and check out her death certificate as that might provide more clues as to where we might search for them as a couple and that in turn, might lead to more info and allow us to confirm or discount WJ of Nakusp.

Now all I have to do is concentrate on work for 8 hours before doing what I really want to do - run off to the library and solve family mysteries!

[KarenM]

Now all I have to do is concentrate on work for 8 hours before doing what I really want to do - run off to the library and solve family mysteries!

Shame how a job has to get in the way of things 

Karen

[frenchdressing]

I'm so sorry for the mix up in centuries. My brain was getting addled late last night (at least that's my excuse).

I quite agree that the William John Kerr in Naksup is quite possibly my man. When James grandaughter (who's 87) says he went to Alberta she could be confused as for someone who's never been to the west of Canada could easily get Alberta and BC mixed up. She's only going by heresay and I've found out a couple of times that the stories that were handed down had little to do with  reality.

Maybe the 2 brothers went out west together and then fell out and separated.

Mary Jane Currie and William Kerr had a son William born in Glasgow in1859 but he died in infancy. Maybe William John thought that he was the one born in Glasgow???

I have found  no trace of a marriage in the UK for a William John Kerr so he probably married in Canada.

I'm really grateful for the time you're spending on this. I hate thinking that there's a whole side of my family that have been forgotten.



French